Iran was strategically on the back foot. Loss of Syrian proxies, inability to restore deterrence against Israel or the US, GCC states slowly accepting Israel in the region, sanctions generally working...and then we put them in a position to gamble for resurrection and boy howdy did they.
Rocky Flats Chimney Sweep 🇺🇸
Oh yeah, this is clearly a defeat.
We threw away $30bn+, plus whatever danegeld we're paying, plus 15 American lives, plus a whole bunch of airframes, plus we antagonized a lot of other states, in order to put Iran in a stronger strategic position than they were when we started.
Absolute disaster.
